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By Ian SimpsonReuters • Tuesday November 27, 2012 5:47 AM

WASHINGTON — U.S. and European authorities seized 132 domain names in a counterfeit goods
crackdown linked to Cyber Monday, the online bargain day, the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement said.

ICE agents seized 101 domain names in the United States and 31 were taken over by officers in
Britain, Romania, Belgium, France and Denmark and by Europol, the European Police Office, ICE
Director John Morton said.

The sites, many linked to organized crime, were selling fake goods that ranged from NFL jerseys
and Nike shoes to Adobe Systems software, he said.

“There is much money to be made out there duping consumers, and that is what is going on,”
Morton said on a conference call.

Investigations are continuing, and more sites will be seized in coming days.

In the United States, the merchandise of 41 rights owners was being sold on the seized sites,
Morton said.

ICE said in a statement that one U.S. arrest had been made.

The crackdown marks the third year that ICE has gone after websites selling counterfeit goods on
Cyber Monday, the online shopping spree. It is the first time the agency has carried out the
operation with European police.

The Cyber Monday seizures raise the total number of U.S. sites taken over to 1,630 since ICE
began its anti-counterfeit campaign in June 2010.

PayPal accounts identified with the sites and holding a total of more than $175,000 are targets
for seizure, the ICE statement said.

Morton put the scale of online piracy in the billions of dollars. Much of the online
counterfeiting is in China and other parts of Asia, and U.S. authorities are working with China on
the problem, he said.